Stakes & Stilettos - Michelle Rowen [1]
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine
“Divinely funny… A subtly provocative paranormal romance that shines a new light on angels and demons and witches, oh my!”
—Heartstrings Reviews
“Fun and fast-moving… Valerie is a wonderful character. Kick off your shoes on a cold winter’s night and relax with this. You’ll be glad you did.”
—Mythprint
“You have to read this book! It is quirky, funny, and sweet. If you love original and hilarious, you have to pick up Angel with Attitude.”
—FallenAngelReviews.com
BITTEN & SMITTEN
“A terrific vampiric chick-lit tale filled with biting humor.”
—Midwest Book Review
“4 Stars! Fun and clever… this novel is bound to appeal to those who like their romance a little offbeat and definitely humorous.”
—Romantic Times BOOK Reviews Magazine
“A study of contrasts: frothy chick-lit wrapped around a grittier reality and a flip side featuring a modern heroine paired with a Brontean hero. Let us welcome this fresh voice to the genre.”
—Booklist
ALSO BY MICHELLE ROWEN
The Immortality Bites Series
Bitten & Smitten
Fanged & Fabulous
Lady & the Vamp
Angel with Attitude
Acknowledgments
Huge thanks to…
… my wonderful editor, Karen Kosztolnyik, without whom this book would have very unwisely ended a chapter early. Definitely a good call!
… my fab agent, Jim McCarthy, who keeps doing what he does so very, very well, and I thank my lucky stars every day to have him in my corner.
… Bonnie Staring and Laurie Rauch for beta-reading my vamps and making sure they had enough fang to go the distance.
… Michèle Ann Young, who gave the “Interludes” in this book a once-over to make sure I wasn’t just making things up when it comes to historical detail. I have a tendency to do that. Research is cool but it hurts my little brain.
… my fantastic parents, who have taken on the mantle as Official Unpaid Rowen Publicists. I find my bookmarks in bookstores near and wide, much like Zorro’s mark, and I know they’ve been there spreading the word.
Prologue
Ten weeks ago
She wasn’t wearing any shoes. That was his first impression.
His second impression was that the attractive brunette was completely insane. She had to be if she was approaching him.
He watched warily as she struggled through the narrow opening in the barrier and stared out at the sight before her. She was now perched alongside him on a support beam of a tall bridge high above a very dark, cold river.
Her eyes, wide with fear, finally landed fully on him.
“Hey!” she called out. The swift wind blew the bottom part of her thin, silky dress up above her knees to show off her long legs. Her leather coat, more fashionable than adequate as protection against the cool early winter chill, gaped open in the front.
Don’t come any closer, he thought. She was going to get herself killed climbing out past the safety barrier of the bridge. Dying was his goal that night, but he’d rather not see anyone else suffer the same fate.
“Go away,” he said simply.
She didn’t go away. Instead her gaze moved around erratically. “Holy crap. This is high up, isn’t it?”
A marvelous observation. He eyed her as she shuffled closer to him. Insane. Most definitely insane.
“Help me!”
He frowned. “Help yourself. Can’t you see that I’m trying to kill myself here?”
Quelling any thoughts of empathy, he gazed down at the dark waters of the Don River hundreds of feet below them. Quite honestly, there could not be a worse time for him to have been interrupted. She was putting herself in extreme danger.
“Help me first and then kill yourself,” the woman suggested.
Who was she? What was she doing there? Did she know who he was? Had she been sent to stop him from ending his already overlong life?
No. The young woman who’d chosen to climb out onto the bridge in bare feet at the very end of a particularly cold November hadn’t sought him out. He could see it in her eyes. He could taste her fear. This was merely a coincidence.
A very inconvenient coincidence indeed.
The woman bore